In the Long Run

My son, the new dad, has a new title—Juris Doctor. It has been a long, and eventful three years since he began law school, but three days ago he received the law diploma that marks the beginning of a new career.

With great ceremony, the 125 graduates formally paraded into the theatre to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance played by an elegant string trio. We eagerly looked for our Juris Doctor, decked out in a somber black robe, emblazoned with red Ute stripes (you would have loved it, DeDee), and the obligatory doctorate hood, lined with rich purple velvet. And suddenly he appeared in the aisle. He was readily distinguishable, because he wore no cap. I wondered if this was some sort of brazen iconoclastic gesture to mock the ceremonial and stuffy nature of the graduation exercises, but later he vigorously asserted that his scalp was merely itchy, so he removed the aggravating mortarboard.

There were several awards and short speeches, and a keynote address by a South African judge who basically lambasted America’s foreign policy, after which the audience clapped. At that point, maybe the law school’s moot court participants should have been invited on stage for a rebuttal. Quite possibly, though, most of us were too interested in the next order of business, the confirmation of degrees, to really give Judge Goldstone’s diatribe a second thought.

We didn’t have to wait long. There was our Juris Doctor-New Dad, complete with cap, shaking the Law School dean’s hand while clutching the hard-earned diploma, and smiling for the camera. I resisted the urge to cheer wildly, because I was holding his sleeping daughter, The Little Princess, in my lap. But I was very proud.

Twenty-six years ago, my Key Limey graduated from law school when this son was about a year older than his daughter is now. It is a legal circle that has come full circle.

Posted by Cyppy at 6:34 PM